Nancy Hoffman and how profiles help if you're having to adapt

Leadership: Exhausted? Maybe You’re Having To Adapt – Rather than Leading From Your Strengths

Nancy Hoffman Explains How She Discovered How to Be Proactive in Using Her Strengths

Nancy Hoffman was exhausted, but she did not know why. And there was no medical explanation.

Nancy Hoffman and how profiles help if you're having to adapt

Nancy Hoffman

She had flourished over the years in her roles as a management consultant … a mom …  during her husband’s career change when he left corporate America to become a pastor. So why did she feel so depleted now, several years into their ministry together?

Then one day in 2004, Nancy picked up a copy of Leading From Your Strengths in her local bookstore. She read it cover to cover and then completed the LFYS profile assessment.

“The profile changed everything,” said Nancy.

Discover How You Are Having To Adapt

As she read her profile report, Nancy wasn’t surprised to see her strengths as an Aggressive problem solver – one that’s decisive and direct. But as a pastor’s wife she had no authority to fix things quickly, so she found herself adapting in order to be agreeable and unassuming. Her high score as a Realist reflected the time she needed to process information quietly, yet she routinely adapted as an outgoing, friendly relationship-builder to support her husband. And while she proofed the weekly church bulletin “because no one on the staff was detail-oriented,” her profile showed she was neutral in managing details – and she was adapting to take up the slack.

“All of the sudden, my exhaustion made sense,” said Nancy. “I enjoyed serving and wanted to help my husband, but I had been using all my energy to adapt my strengths to the situation.”

That’s when she and her husband Scott sat down with the profile data and set up specific steps so that Nancy could contribute to their ministry to use her strengths rather than adapt. The church found a different bulletin proofreader. The board gave her authority and a budget to fix practical problems without their approval. “Now I could do simple things like keep the clocks working without having to attend a formal meeting,” said Nancy.

Discover How You Can Use the Profiles Proactively

The transformation was so life-changing that Nancy wanted others to thrive sooner rather than later. She began leading various groups through the Leading From Your Strengths material: the church leadership, CEOs at a retreat center, the board of directors at a Christian college, and even with a preschool staff. “The material is applicable to anyone,” says Nancy. She became certified by Ministry Insights in Level 1 in 2012 and Level II in 2017.

Along the way she became familiar with two additional Ministry Insights products and processes: Position Insights (which helps leaders define a team position and the strengths needed to fill it successfully) and Marriage Insights (profile data that outlines spouses’ individual and relational strengths, specifically relating to the marriage relationship).

Position Insights was particularly useful during her tenure on staff at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Nancy was part of a team that needed to choose from hundreds of candidates, among them six current BGEA staff members, to fill two new positions. Who would be the best fit? How could they avoid staff conflict in the hiring aftermath? Nancy suggested that the hiring team complete the Position Insights process to get clarity about what was needed in the two roles.

“We discovered we had layered on extra requirements to a task-oriented job,” said Nancy. “If we’d pursued that course, the successful candidates would have spent a lot of energy to adapt to the position’s actual responsibilities.” The team redefined the positions and then asked the six internal candidates to complete the strengths profile. The end result allowed the team to hire two task-oriented candidates and then provide personal coaching for the other four, helping them to see how their strengths could be better used in different positions. Not long afterward, Nancy was able to direct one of those more relationally-oriented candidates to a media role where she is now flourishing.

Discover Different Ways to Use the Profiles

Scott and Nancy, now on staff at Trinity Church (Virginia Beach, VA) recently used Marriage Insights at Trinity’s newest campus in Stuttgart, Germany, which serves a large number of deployed American military families, ex-patriots, and English-speaking Germans. Couples completed the Marriage Insights profile on the first evening of the retreat and brought their copies the next morning for a debriefing. Nancy assigned simple exercises for couples to complete together during that session. Participants had private time to discuss their strengths with their spouses and what they value in each other.

The campus pastor was initially hesitant to include the profiles as part of the weekend but has become an enthusiastic fan since attending the retreat and working through the data with his wife. “One of this pastor’s strengths is validating information,” Nancy said with a smile. “Now that he has confirmed for himself the power of the profiles, he fully embraces the LFYS process.”

Nancy is quick to share the reasons she uses the Ministry Insights suite of products in an array of situations: they are versatile. They produce results in nearly any situation. Quite simply, they work.

“The profile changed my life,” said Nancy. “When you love something, you keep looking for opportunities to share it and use it with others.”

A professional with over 25 years of experience in training and development both in the corporate world and in ministry, Nancy Hoffman currently serves as Communications Coordinator at Trinity Church (Virginia Beach, VA) where her husband Scott is campus pastor. When she’s not mentoring leaders and building teams, she plays Legos with her grandkids, cooks with herbs from her garden, and enjoys making old, ugly things beautiful again. Contact Nancy.

More Ways to Use Ministry Insights Profiles

Marriages: Counselor Jimmy McLeod Invests in Marriages and Teams With Profiles

Teams: Preparation with the Profiles Leads to Staff Retreat Success

Leaders: To Avoid Burnout, Don’t Try to Be “the Guy Who Does Everything”

Staffing: Why Wait? Get Insight When Hiring – Not Later

Certified practitioner Mary Morgan led her team on a successful retreat using the LFYS process

Preparation with the Profiles Leads to Staff Retreat Success

Mary Morgan saw the Ministry Insights Equipping Conference email invitation and thought, This is so affordable – I could become certified and develop skills to help our team.

Certified practitioner Mary Morgan led her team on a successful retreat using the LFYS process

Mary Morgan

The timing was just right.

Mary, who at the time was executive pastor at Good News Church (Sioux Falls, SD), had become acquainted with Leading From Your Strengths a few years earlier when the church staff worked together through a 9-month discipleship process. The program included the LFYS profiles.

Since then the church staff’s makeup had changed and Mary, whose responsibilities include staff development, knew it was time for some team building. “Our staff is very diverse. We get along pretty well given how different we are,” says Mary. “But I knew we could grow and do better if we understood each other’s differences.”

After attending the conference during the summer, Mary set about preparing each individual staff member for the fall retreat. Those steps of preparation, she says, were pivotal in leading to an informational team retreat experience and building a cohesive team.

Each Member Processed the Profiles One-on-One

In the weeks leading up to the retreat, Mary used her one-on-one weekly meetings with staff members to spend time processing each one’s LFYS assessment. “Together, we went through their profile step by step,” says Mary. “I asked the staff member to choose three sentences or phrases from each paragraph or section that was true about him or her – and we discussed them one at a time.”

The assessment was a tool that helped us open up. “We talked about specific situations and how that team member handled things differently than others,” says Mary.” By the time the staff came together for the retreat, each member had thoroughly digested their individual profiles, understood their personal strengths, and had a basic grasp of what the others brought to the team, too.

The Staff Processed the Profiles Together

The Equipping Conference not only gave Mary the tools she needed to coach each staff member through his or her individual profile but also prepared her to lead the team building process.

She structured the retreat to closely follow Rodney Cox’s conference presentation. During the opening session, Mary explained the biblical foundation for the Mystery of Differences and ended the evening with devotional material and time for individual reflection. The next morning, Session 2 opened with hands-on exercises and teaching that explained the Law of Differences.

For the final session, Mary distributed packets that included a one-page consolidated summary profile (prepared by Ministry Insights) for each person, as well as the team’s Strengths Wheel. One at a time around the circle, each team member shared one piece of information from their consolidated report. The rest of the team members responded and affirmed ways they recognized that strength in the team member and how that strength contributed to the team. Then they started around the circle again with another sentence or phrase from the report until each person had walked through their consolidated report with the team.

“It took all afternoon,” says Mary. “But the staff said the final session was one of their favorite parts of the retreat. It allowed them to articulate the value of each other’s differences.”

For instance, one staff member ranked a 10 as a reflective problem solver while four others scored a 10 as aggressive problem solvers – the widest difference margin possible. “We joked about how he must feel outnumbered,” says Mary. Yet as a result of the discussion, the team affirmed the value that the Reflective’s questions bring to decisions. “He’s not just trying to slow us down,” says Mary. “He’s trying to make sure we haven’t missed ideas or ways of doing things that would cause unnecessary conflicts – and he learned to appreciate when an Aggressive says, ‘now we’ve talked about it and we just need to get going.’”

Two Key Preparations Culminate in Retreat Success

Two facets of preparation, says Mary, contributed to the retreat’s resounding success: her training at the Equipping Conference and the time she spent with each staff member to process their individual profiles before the retreat.

She arrived at the conference with copies of her staff’s completed assessments so she could understand how to process them while she was trained – and even get advice from Ministry Insights staff. “The conference prepared me to walk through the profiles with each staff member individually and gave me the material and structure for the retreat,” says Mary.

Once home, she purposefully set about to process the individual profiles with each staff member over a three-month period The training showed her how to affirm each person’s strengths and speak into the other side. “I was able to truly coach,” says Mary. “The time and money spent on the certification and training was worth every penny for me as a leader and for our team.”

“For me and the staff, the LFYS process has been an incredible tool,” says Mary. “Our retreat was the culmination of an invaluable season of growth and discovery.”

Mary Morgan is a Leading From Your Strengths certified trainer. Get your level 1 certification, today!

More Ways To Use The Profiles

Pastor-Wife Team Uses Profiles for Marriage Breakthroughs

Roger Yancey Uses Profiles to Help Build Church Teams

Gerry Lewis Uses Profiles to Help Leaders Battle Burnout

pen and hand

Exercise: Compare Leading From Your Strengths and Leading From Your Weaknesses

Each member of your team has God-given strengths – predictable ways he naturally approaches or respond to problems, information, change, and risk.

pen and handBut each team member likely approaches the Principle of Strengths in different ways. Some are altogether unfamiliar with the concept. Others have been taught to focus on improving their weaknesses … or to accept the culture’s herd mindset that values particular strengths over others …

This exercise helps participants embrace their unique strengths in a very simple, tactile experience.

What You Need for This Exercise

For each participant:

  • A piece of paper
  • A pen or pencil

What To Do

  • Ask each participant to select a blank sheet of paper and draw two horizontal lines across the center of the paper, about one inch apart and two inches from the sides.
  • Have participants place the pen in their non-dominant hand. If they are right-handed, they can place the pen in the left hand. If they are left-handed, they can place the pen in their right hand. Have participants use their non-dominant hand to write their first, middle and last names in cursive on the first line.
  • Tell participants to move the pen to their dominant hand. On the second line, they can write their first, middle and last names in cursive.
  • Process the exercise together. Ask participants to share the following:

Compare the differences you experienced as you completed these two tasks.

What surprised you about doing this exercise?

What encouraged you about doing this exercise?

How does this exercise help you to understand the difference between leading from your weaknesses and leading from your strengths?

How does this exercise help you embrace your strengths?

  • Guide the conversation to include these points:

Using your non-dominant hand is not natural, while using your dominant hand is natural. How does that compare with leading from your weaknesses and leading from your strengths – and how does that impact the team?

Using your non-dominant hand is messier than using your dominant hand. How does that compare with leading from your weaknesses and leading from your strengths – and how does that impact the team?

Using your non-dominant hand takes longer than using your dominant hand. How does that compare with leading from your weaknesses and leading from your strengths – and how does that impact the team?

For You To Take Away

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:7, ESV)

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Share your story with us here.

Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

 

More Exercises for Team Building

Differences: Do They Divide Your Team or Unite Your Team?

Ice Breaker: 3 x 5 Card Game

Team Building Exercise: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

Scott Mawdesley

Leader Uses Profiles to Onboard New Team Members

“I have a confession,” says Scott Mawdesley, then a campus pastor with 12Stone Church in Georgia. “I use the Leading From Your Strengths profiles differently from other leaders.”

Scott hit on a powerful facet of the profiles: their versatility.

Scott Mawdesley

Scott Mawdesley

It was during a break from ministry when working in the consulting world that Scott got acquainted with Rodney Cox and the Leading From Your Strengths profiles, becoming certified in the process. Later, when he returned to a position in a local church, Scott put the profiles into practice with his team.

While other church leaders draw on the profiles for vetting candidates for a position and in team building, Scott has found a unique niche for the profile data – one that fits his entrepreneurial approach to leadership. He uses them to onboard new staff.

Use the Profiles to Onboard New Staff

Scott’s intuitive nature means he can identify a candidate who is a good fit early in the hiring process. Rather than asking several job candidates to complete the profile, he waits until a hire is selected.  “At this point, I am confident that this person fits the role,” says Scott.  “I’m not worried about our team being comfortable with the person.”

As part of the transition, Scott asks the new team member to complete the Leading From Your Strengths profile. The profile data becomes a tool for Scott to use to facilitate the staffer’s onboarding to the team and into the work environment. He uses the data to understand the nuances of the new employee’s personality at the front end so they can work best together from the start.

Scott has found the profile especially helpful when it comes to specifics about communication: What might she wrestle with? How can he affirm her? What does she need to know when it comes to change or lack of clarity?

“The profile data lets me do my best to help the new employee integrate into the system and culture,” says Scott. “I can say, ‘Hey, I know X element of our work environment will be comfortable for you, but Y may be uncomfortable. I’m here to talk about it if you need to.” That kind of heads-up keeps staff members from being blindsided and helps them move into their new roles more easily.

Use the Profiles to Coach Staff Members

Scott has also found the profiles to be helpful as he coaches his staff members to use their God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.  Such was the case when he was asked to take on a new position in an organization. As he made the transition, Scott asked an assistant to move with him.

Although the assistant handled her new responsibilities the best that she could, the new fast-paced setting required attention to detail – and her strengths did not fit that environment.

Scott was familiar with the assistant’s profile data, so he was able to assess the situation sooner than later. One day as he faced an urgent deadline that required his team’s immediate response, Scott realized that his assistant couldn’t help him finish in time. She simply did not have those particular strengths.

“I couldn’t change the work culture,” he said. “And she couldn’t change herself to fit the culture. She had other strengths that needed to be used in the organization. I wanted to coach her to use them.”

That was a turning point that allowed Scott and his assistant to have a series of conversations that led her to move into a different role in the organization. Scott subsequently hired a new assistant that was better suited to the fast-paced environment dictated by his position.

Use the Profiles in Ways That Work For YOU

Scott has used the profiles in off-site team retreats and in team-building exercises, but he has found them to be most productive in transitioning new members onto a team and coaching team members to use their strengths.

“The profiles don’t dictate whether or not I hire a person,” says Scott. “But they guide me to help team members use their strengths. They’re a great tool for leaders, no matter how you choose to use them.”

Scott Mawdesley has spent 20+ years in ministry with organizations including Liberty University, World Help, Saddleback Church, North Point Community Church, and at 12Stone Church. He currently serves as a VP with Corners Academy.

Strong teams are built by strong leaders. Find out how Ministry Insights’ tools can help you build a team that communicates with empathy, trusts each other, and executes like never before. Start by taking your Leading From Your Strengths® assessment today!

More Staffing Tips from Ministry Insights

Pastor Uses Profiles to Help Leaders Transition – Even Himself

Church Staffing Transition: Don’t Marry Rachel and End Up with Leah

Ministry Consultant Uses Profiles to Build Teams in Transition

Team Devotional: Encourage Each Other Today

Use this team devotional as a short Bible study or exercise during one of your regular team meetings.

For You From the Word

young team who encourage each otherEncourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13, NIV)

For You To Think About

Read Hebrews 3:13 aloud together.

Encourage Each Other

  • The word “encourage” used here implies coming alongside another to urge them on. Think of a situation in which a team member encouraged you. How did you feel?
  • Why is encouragement so powerful?

Encourage Each Other Daily

  • The writer of Hebrews cautions us to encourage each other daily in order to prevent our hearts from hardening. Why can it be easy to begin to take for granted each other’s strengths – and what can happen when we do? Give a clear example.
  • Why does God specify that we are to encourage each other daily, rather than just once in a while?

Encourage Each Other Today

  • Think back to the time when you first learned about your team’s strengths. What was one strength in another team member that had special meaning for you? Share your thoughts with the person and with the group.

For You To Pray

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the strengths represented on this team. Today, I especially thank You for [allow team members to give thanks for specific strengths represented on the team.]

Help us to encourage one another. We do not want our team to become hardened to each other but rather we want to be soft and open to each other so You can use us best. Remind us daily to appreciate the strengths You have placed on this team. Begin with me.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this team devotional a meaningful interaction for you? Share your story with us here.

Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

 

More Team Building Tools

Team Devotional: We Complete Each Other

Coffee Debrief: An Exercise in Meaningful Interaction

Team Exercise: Do Differences Divide or Unite Your Team?

 

Vertical Visual for this icebreaker exercise

Ice Breaker Exercise: Vertical Visual

When you gather your group together for team building, each person comes with a different set of experiences and expectations.

This ice breaker exercise gets your team members on the same page in a short time by letting them create a quick visual of the differences of the team. It is simple and fun, allowing each person to participate immediately by opening up discussion right away. You can expect surprise, laughter, and bantering. The exercise sets the tone for a fruitful session.

It is especially helpful to use with groups that are cautious, controlled, have experienced tension, are suspicious of the team building process, are new to team building – or if you simply want to break the ice.

What You Need for This Exercise

  • For smaller groups (10 or less): a whiteboard or chalkboard and marking utensil
  • For larger groups (more than 10): a copy of the prepared piece of paper and pens or pencils

Preparation

Vertical Visual for this icebreaker exerciseIf you are leading a small group: prepare for this exercise by drawing a vertical line on the whiteboard or chalkboard. At the top of the line, write “Get the Job Done.” At the bottom of the line, write “Enjoy the People.”

If you are leading a large group: prepare the exercise sheet and make copies to distribute to smaller groups during your training. Draw a vertical line on a piece of paper. At the top of the line, write “Get the Job Done.” At the bottom of the line, write “Enjoy the People.” Make enough copies of the exercise sheet for every 5-7 people. For example, if your training group will have 30 participants, make 5 copies.

What To Do

  1. If you are leading a small training, then the entire team can participate in this exercise together. If you are leading a larger training, ask participants to sit in groups of 5-7, preferably with their immediate team members, to do the exercise.
  2. Invite participants to look at the prepared vertical visual and consider this question: “Where do you see yourself on this line?” Ask participants to mark a spot on the line that best represents their individual approach to their work on the team. Remind participants that there is no “wrong” answer.
  3. Process the results together. Ask participants to share the following:
  • Do you see your team member in the way he sees himself?
  • What do you see right away about your team?
  • What surprises you about these results?
  • What encourages you about these results?
  • How does the idea of differences intrigue you?

This simple exercise validates the Law of Differences and provides a visual demonstration of the team’s individual task or people orientation. But more importantly, the exercise creates an atmosphere of sharing and openness for the rest of your session.

For You To Take Away

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:7, ESV).

Special thanks to Donald Hintze for sharing how he uses this exercise.

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Share your story with us here.

Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

More Exercises to Help Your Team Understand Differences

Differences: Do They Divide Your Team or Unite Your Team?

Ice Breaker: 3 x 5 Card Game

Team Building Exercise: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

 

Exercise: Experience Your Natural Strengths and Adapted Strengths Simultaneously

For You To Think About

Each individual has been gifted with natural strengths. These qualities with which you are born are your unique way or manner of going about the tasks of daily life. Some may even refer to your strengths as your “personality.”

Adapted strengths, on the other hand, are adjustments you make in order to succeed in a particular environment. For instance, you may use one of your strengths more than another or you may even develop one of your minor strengths, bringing it to the forefront, in order to accomplish tasks in your work life, home life, or ministry life.

right and left hand writing

Image: Science Daily

While you may be able to perform well using your adapted strengths, you maximize your abilities by using your natural strengths.

Consider what might happen if you and the members of your team were able to consistently use their natural strengths – rather than continually adapting – to contribute to your work, home, and ministry.

For You To Do

This exercise helps you and your team experience using both your natural strengths and your adapted strengths in succession and compare how they align.

What You Need for This Exercise

  • A pen or pencil for each participant
  • A piece of blank paper for each participant

What To Do

  1. Ask participants to sit at a table or at a place where they will be able to write.
  2. Give each participant a sheet of blank paper and a pen or pencil. Ask each participant to draw two horizontal lines, about an inch apart, on his piece of paper.
  3. Ask participants to grasp a pen or pencil in their dominant hand. Invite them to lift up that hand and hold it high in the air. Then ask them to raise the other hand high and transfer the pen or pencil from the dominant hand to the subordinate hand. Participants can lower their hands but are to keep pens and pencils grasped in their subordinate hands.
  4. Tell participants to place the point of the pen or pencil on the first line on the paper. Using their subordinate hand, they can write their first, middle and last names in cursive.  Have participants switch the pen or pencil to the other hand – the dominant hand – and move the pen to the second line. Tell them to write their first, middle and last names on the line.
  5. Process the exercise together. Ask participants to share the following:How did you feel when you tried to complete the first task? What was the result?
    How did it feel when you switched hands and completed the second task? What was the result?
  6. Help participants connect the idea of writing with subordinate and dominant hands to using their natural strengths and their adapted strengths. Ask:How does this exercise illustrate the power of allowing people to lead from their natural strengths?
    What can you learn about using your adapted strengths from this exercise?
  7. How can you apply this experience to your home life, work life, or ministry life?

 

For You To Take Away

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. (Romans 12:6, ESV)

 

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Share your story with us here.Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

 

More Exercises to Help You Use the Profiles

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 5: Checklist for Communicating

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 4: What Value Do You Bring to Your Team?

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 3: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 2: Understand Differences

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 1: Group Devotional

Coffee Debrief: An Exercise in Meaningful Interactions

Exercise: Checklist for Communicating

Lead Your Team through the Profile, Part 5: Checklist for Communicating

How Your Team Can Use Words to Build Up, Not Tear Down

This exercise is part of a series to use as you guide your team through understanding their LFYS profiles.

For You To Think About

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21, ESV).

group discussion

Image: National Institutes of Health

Good communication can be a powerful asset in building your team and breathes life into the work you do together. And as you probably know, poor communication can tear a team apart, damage relationships, and destroy the work you’re trying to accomplish.

Most people are not surprised to learn that each team member is wired to communicate differently.

What surprises them is how differences in communication bring strength to the team. As team members find out how others are wired to receive information, they can make small adjustments in how they communicate. In customizing their communication with each other, they breathe life into the team rather than destroy it.

For You To Do

This exercise helps your team members discover how to communicate well with each other. Together, your team will process the “Checklist for Communicating ” and “Don’ts in Communicating” sections from their LFYS profiles.

This section of the profile reveals the ways the user best receives information and what can prevent him from receiving information. Statements listed in this section are neither inherently good nor inherently bad, but rather simply indicate communication style. By looking at these statements, members can better understand what to do and what not to do when communicating with others on the team.

What You Need for This Exercise

What To Do

Ask the group to sit in a circle.

  • Have participants refer to the “Checklist for Communicating” and “Don’ts in Communicating” sections of their LFYS profiles. Have them use a highlighter, pen, or pencil to select 3 statements from each list that best describe them.
  • Process the data together in this way.

A. Ask the person on your left to begin. Invite that team member to share the first statement he selected and explain why he chose it. Ask the team member to clarify terms or words that may have more than one meaning.

B. Ask the group to respond and give examples that affirm the statement. How have they communicated with this team member in the past in a way that reflects the statement? How does this person’s approach to communicating add strength to the team?

  •  Move on to the next person and repeat Steps A and B. Continue the process until everyone on the team has shared one statement. Repeat the process until each participant has shared all of their selected statements.
  • Invite participants to review the “Communicating with Others” handout. Encourage them to use it as a quick reference tool to equip them to communicate well with others on the team. Have participants identify which approach best fits each member of the team.
  • Ask, “What surprised you the most during this exercise?” Allow participants to share.

 For You To Take Away

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21, ESV)

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

 

More Exercises to Help You Use the Profiles

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 1: Group Devotional

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 2: Understand Differences

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 3: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 4: What Value Do You Bring to Your Team?

Coffee Debrief: An Exercise in Meaningful Interactions

Exercise: What Value Do You Bring to Your Team?

Lead Your Team through the Profile, Part 4: Value to the Team

This exercise is part of a series to use as you guide your team through understanding their profile reports.

For You To Think About

small group discussion

Image: Bijender Singh

In what way does each member bring value to your team?

Your team members fulfill two different functions: (1) they carry out tasks (2) they each carry out tasks in a unique way.

A task is an action. Members know which tasks they are responsible for simply by reading their job descriptions (“She is responsible for interviewing potential clients.”) A team member carries out tasks in a unique way by using her strengths (“She completed the interview quickly and decisively.”)

Each member of your team brings his unique combination of natural strengths to the group – a one-of-a-kind manner in which he accomplishes tasks. That unique combination of strengths brings value to the team.

When team members know their value, they flourish. When they understand the value others bring to the team, they can better understand how the team fits together to make a unified whole. There are several ways your team can benefit from processing each member’s value to the team.

  • Team members can identify the individual strengths they bring to the team – and recognize the strengths other team members bring, too.
  • Team members can find ways to maximize their God-given strengths in their work and become even more valuable to the team.
  • Team members can develop a deeper appreciation for what others bring to the team, which grows interdependence.

 For You To Do

This exercise helps your team discover what specific value they bring to the team. Together, your team will process the “Value to the Team” section of the report.

The material in this section of the profile report is derived from the user’s strengths and their intensity. It lists specific talents and strengths each member brings to the team. By looking at these statements, each member can better identify his role in the group. Understanding their roles equips the team to interact more productively and effectively.

What You Need for This Exercise

  • Each participant’s profile report
  • Highlighters, pens, and pencils for each participant

What To Do

  • Ask the group to sit in a circle.
  • Have participants turn to page 8 in their profile reports and read their “Value to the Team” section. Invite them to use a highlighter, pen, or pencil to select 4 statements from the list that they believe describes best their value to the team.
  • Process the data together in this way.

A. Ask the person on your left to begin. Invite that team member to share the first statement he selected and explain why he chose it. Ask the team member to clarify terms or words that may have more than one meaning.

B. Ask the group to respond. How do they see this team member using this characteristic in a way that brings value to the team?

  • Move on to the next person and repeat Steps A and B. Continue the process until everyone on the team has shared one statement. Repeat the process until each participant has shared all of their selected statements.
  • Ask each member to share strengths that they are not using as much as they could. In what ways can they use those strengths to make a positive difference for the team?
  • Ask participants these questions and invite them to respond:

A. What surprised you the most during this exercise?

B. What did this exercise confirm to you that you may have already known?

For You To Take Away

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (1 Corinthians 12:17, NIV)

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger for it individually and together.

 

More Exercises to Help You Use the Profiles

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 1: Group Devotional

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 2: Understand Differences

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 3: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 5: Checklist for Communicating

Coffee Debrief: An Exercise in Meaningful Interactions

Exercise: My Strengths, Your Strengths, Our Strengths

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 3:
Process Your Team Members’ Strengths

This exercise is part of a series to use as you guide your team through understanding their profile reports.

For You To Think About

Each person has natural strengths. Natural strengths are an individual’s unique ways of going about the tasks of daily life. Each member of your team brings his unique combination of natural strengths to the group.

group in a circle

Image: St. Catherine’s university

Once your team has an understanding of the biblical basis for differences and has a grasp of the Law of Differences, they are ready to discover the strengths of their team.

There are several ways your team can benefit from processing their natural strengths together:

  • Members can discover insights about their teammates that they have not noticed before.
  • Members can offer feedback to each other to confirm their strengths.
  • Members can learn to interact with each other more effectively and productively by using the profile data.

For You To Do

This exercise helps your team discover each others’ key strengths. Together, your team will process the General Characteristics section of the report.

The General Characteristics section expands upon the basic information provided in the strengths chart. It is a narrative summary that outlines specific strengths, based on the individual’s responses in the profile questionnaire. You and your team can use this foundational section of the report as a platform to build unity and oneness.

What You Need for This Exercise

  • Each participant’s profile report
  • Highlighters, pens, and pencils for each participant

What To Do

  • Ask the group to sit in a circle.
  • Have participants turn to and read their General Characteristics section. Invite them to use a highlighter, pen, or pencil to select three statements from paragraph 1 that fits best according to how they understand themselves. Ask them to repeat the process for paragraphs 2 and 3, selecting three statements from each paragraph that seem to fit them best. Each participant should select a total of nine statements.
  • Process the data together in this way.

A. Ask the person on your left to begin. Invite that team member to share the first statement he selected and explain why he chose it. Ask the team member to clarify terms or words that may have more than one meaning.
B. Ask the group to respond. How do they see this team member living out this strength on your team?

  • Move on to the next person and repeat Steps A and B. Continue around the circle until everyone on the team has shared one statement.
  • Repeat the process until all selected statements have been shared by everyone on the team.
  • Summarize. Ask participants these questions and invite them to respond:

What surprised you the most during this exercise?
What did this exercise confirm to you that you may have already known?
Share one thing you learned about the strengths represented on the team.

For You To Take Away

The body is not made up of one part but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:14, NIV)

Ministry Insights Exercises offer best practices to put profile data into practice in the workplace, home, ministry, and relationships. How was this exercise a meaningful interaction for you? Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Profiles empower Christian leaders, churches, and ministries to discover and use your God-given strengths and be stronger individually and together.

 

More Exercises to Help You Use the Profiles

Your Team Through the Profile, Part 1: Group Devotional

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 2: Understand Differences

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 4: What Value Do You Bring to the Team?

Lead Your Team Through the Profile, Part 5: Checklist for Communicating

Coffee Debrief: An Exercise in Meaningful Interactions